A. G. Mehta (1 February 1927 – 10 March 1969) was a Ugandan member of parliament, barrister and the eldest son of a prominent Indian industrialist.[1] The Honourable A.G. Mehta was elected as the first Asian-Indian mayor of Uganda's capital Kampala in 1968 and was a close colleague of Uganda's first prime minister Milton Obote; with whom he jointly fought for the country's independence at the Uganda Constitutional Conference in 1961.[2][3][4] He is credited with drafting elements of what would become the first Constitution of Uganda.[5]
Mehta and wife Savita Radia (left) in the city council of Kampala, Uganda, 1968
A.G. Mehta was elected as the first Indian mayor of Uganda's capitol city, Kampala, in 1968.[3][11] One week before his death in 1969, Mehta opened the first exhibition on the Baháʼí Faith in the National Theatre of Uganda, where his opening address, attended by numerous East-African dignitaries, advocated pointedly for the unity of mankind.[12]
A. G. Mehta was born the eldest son of the Mehta family, one of Kampala's longest-standing and most prominent Indian families originally hailing from Porbandar, Gujarat, India.[1] The Mehta family were amongst the first multi-millionaires in East Africa with numerous agricultural businesses including the production of cotton and coffee.[13]
Following his death in 1969, Mehta's widow and five surviving children were exiled from Uganda by his former colleague, Idi Amin.
A.G. Mehta's role in establishing the first Constitution of Uganda in 1962 is recorded in Ali AlʼAmin Mazrui's 1978 book Political Values and the Educated Class in Africa published by the University of California Press.[16]
Images of Mehta's political career can be found in the British Library and were digitised by the Endangered Archives Programme.[17]
^Bahai News (August 1969). "Mayor of Kampala Speaks at First Bahai Exhibit"(PDF). Bahai News Published by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahai's of the United States (461): 17 – via Bahai Media Archive.